News

Life begins at 40 for Wyvern Cargo

To celebrate 40 years of reliable service across the UK and overseas, Wyvern Cargo recently held an anniversary celebration for its staff. Over 200 people attended the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu where the company’s special anniversary slogan was revealed: Life begins at 40!

The slogan now features on a specially liveried trailer.

Celebrations began at 2pm with entry to the Beaulieu Estate. In the evening there was dinner and dancing, singing by all-girl group ‘Justified’, magic from Roger Lapin and cartoon portraits by Paul Tyler. Seven employees received long service awards, having completed at least 20 years’ service.

Wyvern Cargo has grown steadily in the fields of pallet storage and nationwide distribution and its anniversary slogan is very apt as the company continues to expand to meet growing customer demands.

A Wyvern ice sculpture took pride of place during the evening’s entertainment. Left to right: John Probert (Chairman), Maarja Vaiksaar (studying for a degree in transport operations at Tallinn University, Estonia and on a student placement)

Dean Whitbread: Obituary

It is with deepest regret that we have to announce the sudden and unexpected passing of Dean Whitbread on 14th January 2015 aged 52.

Dean joined Wyvern Cargo in 1991 as our Haulage Operations Manager and has been a very important figure in our growth over the past 23 years.

His professionalism and knowledge of the industry made him a real asset to us, that when combined with a unique banter-filled style made him very popular with staff and customers alike.

He was a lifelong passionate supporter of Liverpool Football Club and travelled to many games here and around Europe. His favourite ever match was the Champions League Final of 2005 in Istanbul, which he attended with his wife.

He will be sadly missed by all who knew him, colleagues and customers alike.

His funeral was held at Poole Crematorium on Saturday 31st January and was attended by nearly 300 of his Family, Friends, Colleagues and Customers from Wyvern Cargo.

Lincoln Waldie, Wyvern Cargo’s IT manager recently clocked-up thirty years’ service having joined the company straight from college where he studied transport management. Before long he was volunteering to train as a lorry driver, in order he says “to get practical, hands-on experience away from the office”. Over the years such versatility certainly paid dividends on occasions when the unexpected job arose and no regular driver was available.

At his joining interview Lincoln confided to company chairman John Probert that his great enthusiasm was for passenger transport so the Poole-based haulage company decided to mark the anniversary by setting him a fresh challenge; a smart passenger coach rolled up at the office one day and Lincoln was asked to take the controls.

Engine purring, within minutes the coach set off with Lincoln at the wheel, first to collect Lincoln’s wife and two daughters in Lytchett Matravers and then along the A350 to Blandford picking-up his parents on the way for a quick run through the Dorset countryside. “I now have freight in my blood but being at the wheel of that coach was a dream come true” says Lincoln, whose other enthusiasm is for racing cars.

To the moon and back with Wyvern Cargo

Trevor Green, transport manager, says: “A long-distance vehicle covers at least 90,000 miles every year and the average is 35,000 miles for a vehicle on local collection and delivery work. With his accurate record-keeping and a head for figures, Trevor adds that in 2012 Wyvern’s commercial fleet travelled more than five million miles. “That’s more than 200 times round the earth at the equator or twenty-one times the distance from the earth to the moon!”

Meanwhile John Madgewick, Wyvern’s sales manager, says 100,000 consignments and 600,000 pallets travelled on Wyvern wheels last year. How many of those were yours?

THE DORSET KEY TO BUSINESS SUCCESS

Key was launched in Dorset 40 years ago and has grown steadily to become a market leader in industrial supplies including commercial and office equipment. Its catalogue, available in hard copy or on-line, now lists thousands of quality big-brand products and today it is a 'must have' for businesses of all kinds throughout Britain. This is a virtual Aladdin's cave of business necessities including warehouse ladders, salt for the winter freeze-up, first aid kits and hygiene supplies. Prices include delivery and thousands of items are held in stock for delivery next day.

"We source goods world-wide and deliver straight to your door. This is the ultimate one-stop shop solution for busy management teams and we've made ordering incredibly easy. Our aim is simple - to give you one less thing to worry about" says operations manager Howard Rodgers.

Key is undoubtedly one of Dorset's success stories and it works together with Wyvern Cargo to provide dependable and fast deliveries for its customers.

KITE KIDS

Kite Kids is a brand of organic boys' and girls' clothing which was launched by enterprising mother of three, Jo Spragg (pictured), in 2007. With a background in childrenswear Jo, and her husband Richard, have developed an exciting range of beautiful and contemporary styled clothing for both babies and children aged 0-11 years, all made from ethically sourced organic cotton and recycled polyester. "We're based at Poole in Dorset, so the range has been inspired by our love of the outdoors" Jo explains.

The range is not only available from their website, www.kite-kids.co.uk, but now also from a rapidly growing number of specialist childrenswear retailers in the UK, Europe and the USA.

Orders are prepared for despatch by a specialist team at Wyvern Cargo's Poole depot and distributed from there by Wyvern's sister company Poole Express, through the FedEx world-wide delivery network.

Poole firm stars in national advertising campaign.

Wyvern Cargo Ltd has been selected to feature in the very first of a brand new series of eye-catching advertisements for truck manufacturer, Scania. The advert shows a stylised image of a Wyvern Cargo truck together with the strap line, 'You Can Deliver With Ease.'

"Our new campaign is based on the concept 'You Can' and begins by focusing on the distribution sector, in which Wyvern Cargo is a major player" explains Tim Pugh, Business Development Director for Scania (Great Britain) Limited. "The premise is that the combination of a professional transport operator and our products makes light work of the complex challenges nationwide distribution poses. Scania and Wyvern Cargo have a long-standing relationship and we were extremely pleased when they accepted our offer to participate in the campaign."

Wyvern Cargo's managing director Evan Sparrowhawk says, "From our point-of view we were delighted to be approached to take part in such a high profile campaign as Scania is widely regarded within our industry as a premium brand truck manufacturer. It is often said that people judge you by the company you keep and we are therefore very proud to be associated with the brand."

HI-TEC TRAFFIC SYSTEM FOR WYVERN CARGO

Wyvern Cargo has invested over £40,000 in state-of-the-art logistics software with the roll-out of Mandata's traffic management software package 'Manpack 3'. This Windows-based software provides a live on-screen snapshot of all loads available, helping Wyvern Cargo to plan its nationwide deliveries. It enables customers to enter their consignment details on-line and to flag a special requirement, such as a tail-lift delivery vehicle or a timed delivery to the consignee.

Dean Whitbread, business development manager says: "The demand on our fleet and pattern of deliveries varies from day to day and even hour-by-hour. Manpack gives us up-to-the-minute details of each new job and is therefore the key to our flexible load-planning, which is vital for combining operating efficiency with customer satisfaction."

Evan Sparrowhawk, managing director adds: "We looked at several IT systems and visited several of our strategic partners who use Manpack 3, a live demonstration of which helped to clinch the decision. This is a robust and user-friendly package which holds an on-screen record of each job for us and our customers. In addition to helping with loads planning, it covers invoicing. Now we have a leading edge, IT-based traffic planning system which allows for continued growth in the business."

Wyvern Cargo, based at Poole and Kettering, has more than fifty haulage vehicles and provides a nationwide collection and delivery service for full-loads, part-loads and single-pallet consignments.

FUDGES' DORSET VILLAGE BAKERYDELIVERING GOOD TASTE

Tucked away in the heart of rural Dorset, Fudges, the family-run bakery, produces the highest quality sweet and savoury biscuits, enjoyed by biscuit connoisseurs across the UK and beyond.

The Fudges bakery dates back to 1926 when Percy Fudge founded the Fudges business producing award-winning baked goods. Three generations on, the Fudges family has built on Percy's foundations and developed an extensive range of award-winning products using only the finest ingredients, locally sourced within 30 miles where possible.

Fudges know that quality products need top quality distribution and so they choose Wyvern Cargo to deliver their biscuits to their various distributors. From independent delis and stores to the multiples including Waitrose, Tesco, Sainsbury's and Morrisons, Fudges know they can rely on Wyvern to provide excellent service and even storage when required.

Brent Giles, Fudges' Operations Director comments: "At Dorset Village Bakery we pride ourselves on providing the best in both quality and service and so are always delighted to work with companies with the same attributes and ethos."

PULLING POWER
What does it take to be the World's Strongest Man? To find out, the BBC's Mike Bushell took a lesson from Geoff Capes who has won the title twice. Geoff is now training champion shot-putter Kieran Kelly for the 2012 London Olympics and when they met at the Santa Pod Raceway, Wellingborough both Mike and Kieran pitted their strength against a 7.5 tonne Wyvern Cargo truck and got it moving.
"That's not an achievement we wish our drivers to repeat - we would rather that they kept a watchful eye on their fuel gauge" quipped Alan Kidman, Wyvern's Midland Region manager.

The item was featured on the BBC Breakfast Show, Saturday 11th July 2009 ( "BBC Reporter Hauls Truck")

WHAT A PIECE OF CAKE !

When driver Andy Hansford recently celebrated a Big Birthday his colleagues surprised him with a very special birthday cake.

Andy's son Matt, who is also with Wyvern Cargo, says "We had a great night - and Dad's cake tasted every bit as good as it looked."

Wherever you're going Wyvern Cargo has the connections to get you there